All the news on the Earth's largest environment.

A comment on Reddit reminded me of a question that I have received many times. The question is always a good one because it stems from knowledge and deductive reasoning. The said question requires one ...

Biologists have a habit of naming things after cool animals. Cars named after comb jellies, internet passwords after giant squid. Most of these names I recognized, but then I saw my friend’s wifi ...

As I sit at my computer, not even a month into the new year, four new species of sponges from underwater volcanoes, three new species of gastrointestinal parasites (nematodes) from hydrothermal vent ...

Delving into the evolutionary past of the enigmatic deep-sea vampire squid, Vampyroteuthis infernalis, has long been a pursuit shrouded in mystery. However, recent discoveries, such as a remarkable ...

Tiger sharks are sort of generalist feeders. And by generalist, I mean they will pretty much eat anything. And by everything, I mean everything. On the more natural side of things, tiger sharks eat ...

Like most deep-sea biologists, I have a large collection of decorated Styrofoam cups. A couple dozen line the bookshelf of my office, each displaying a rainbow of Sharpie colors. Each cup is ...

You will never see the Ninja Lanternshark coming, not because it’s dark and elusive, but because you won’t be swimming below 1,000 feet deep off the coast of Central America any time soon. The ...

At a recent NOAA workshop, another participant gifted all of us these wonderful “hard hat” float ornaments. The perfect blend of nerdy oceanography and 3-D printing. Benthic Lander from NOAA To ...

Readers of DSN may think they know my favorite organism. Did you guess the giant isopod or did you guess the giant squid? Those beasties are truly fantastic. Large and dwelling in the deep oceans, ...

In the profound darkness of the ocean’s depths, organisms face a choice concerning their visual capabilities. Some species evolve specialized eyes that grow to astonishing sizes, as seen in creatures ...

The ROV Global Explorer reaches bottom at around 9:01 am, nearly 3.5 kilometers deep in the Gulf of Mexico. The 1.5-ton machine flies nimbly through a shallow valley before rising up and over a peak.